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ARGENTINA-DICTATORSHIP-RIGHTS-MARIANI, OBIT
Founding member of Argentina’s ‘grandmothers’ dies
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Chicha Mariani, a founding member
of Argentina’s campaigning Grandmothers who fought to identify hundreds of
children stolen by the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, has died at age 95,
the organization said Tuesday.
Maria Isabel Chorobik de Mariani, known popularly as Chicha, helped
reunite more than 124 stolen babies with their families but passed away
overnight Monday without having located her own granddaughter, Clara Anahi.
Clara was one of nearly 500 children abducted during the dictatorship and
entrusted to childless couples, often close to the regime.
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, founded by Mariani and 11 other
women in 1997, have to date traced and identified 124 of the stolen babies.
Mariani chaired the organization until 1989, and then set up the Clara
Anahi Foundation with the sole purpose of finding her granddaughter.
Clara was three months old in 1976 when she was taken from her parents,
opponents of the regime who were murdered.
Mariani “was essential to the beginning of the search for children who
were appropriated by state terrorism and a symbol of the fight for human
rights,” the Grandmothers — now led by Estela de Carlotto — said in a
statement.
On two occasions she believed she had finally managed to track down Clara,
but each time her hopes were dashed by negative DNA test results from the
women concerned.
The Grandmothers and a sister organization, The Mothers of the Plaza de
Mayo, have set up a DNA bank to ensure that anyone who suspects they are one
of the missing children can come forward.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1138 hrs